Media links

Video

Bruce's second book 'The Self Illusion' is generating critical acclaim and has been nominated for the British Psychology Society book award. Here he describes some of the basic ideas in a talk for the Royal Society of Arts in 2013.

In 2011, Bruce was selected to give the highly prestigious Royal Institution Christmas Lectures "Meet Your Brain" that were broadcast on BBC2 and BBC4. These three lectures are viewable on the Royal Institution Channel

Blow Your Mind - In this fascinating and hilarious show broadcast on National Geographic, Robert Llewellyn aka "Kryton" from Red Drawf and neuroscience expert, Bruce Hood, used mind-melting real-life experiments, hidden camera stunts, try- at-home tests and top notch animations to uncover the storm of unconscious processes that make up the human mind.

Most of us believe in supernatural phenomena. Why? Children's intuition explains much of the world, but as adults we may assume there are magical forces. Watch the webcast again as Bruce describes the basis of magical beliefs, from the benign to the bizarre:

Religion and science have long been thought of as incompatible ways of viewing the world: religion is the domain of faith, while science is based on evidence. Is this how it has to be? Is it true that religion knows all the answers, while science is still trying to find them? Can science tell us everything in this modern world? Or do we need to find our own way of bringing the two together. Watch Bruce's contribution to the Science versus Religion debate recorded last December at the Dana Centre.

Radio Interviews

Why do some objects have these special qualities? Like wedding rings or art. Here Bruce describes the psychology of sentimental objects to an Australian radio audience. Bruce compares our responses to touching different objects, such as a pen owned by Einstein, or a cardigan owned by a murderer:

Here Bruce is interviewed for a Radio show called Skeptical Sunday on the subject of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence: When the Stakes are High - discussing Vampires, Freaks and Superstition.

Web Papers

The brains of even young babies not only organize sensory information but supply what is missing, determine cause and effect, and use the information to generate theories about how the world operates. Such natural intuitive reasoning persists when we become adults, reasons Bruce and may underlie the tendency of even the most rational of us to believe in supernatural phenomena:

Note: some of the documents on this page are in PDF format. In order to view a PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader